Jacquelyn Blain

Englishes

I agree with what Carillo is saying because we were always expected to reading/annotate something without putting in our own thoughts or feelings into what we are reading to give us an understanding of what exactly we are reading. In the text, Carillo mentioned that, “knowing something and understanding something are two different things” and I never really noticed it until I read that quote. When you know something, you just know the surface of it, but to have an understanding of something is to see the bigger picture of the text. You have to break through the surface and see why the author said that or wrote the text in a specific way. Putting feeling and maybe even experience gives you a better understanding of what your reading. This could be very important in today’s world because having an understanding of a situation and how it came to be could give you a better view for both sides than just knowing about the situation and you only heard from one side. Personally me, I haven’t experienced that because all my English teachers would always tell us to try and understand how the author may have been feeling at that moment so we could have a better understanding of the text/story. Though, I have seen some teachers in school that go strictly by the guidelines and kind of force you to just read the text and move on.

I can relate to Tan’s story. My English is different according to who I’m with or around. If I’m around family or in a formal place, I’ll speak correctly but when I’m with my friends, I’ll say slang words and instead of saying “hello” I’ll say “wassup” or “wassgood bro” or even “yurrrrr” XD. My English is also different when I text. I wouldn’t text “wassgood” to my boss or my mom/dad but I will with close friends and cousins.

1 Comment

  1. Jacquelyn Blain

    Talk any way you want to with your friends! And that’s kind of the point, right? Different situations, different “Englishes.” Your comment about the one teacher that let you have opinions really stands out because it’s something you remembered, which means it wasn’t all that common. Those teachers are really important for getting to the difference between knowing and understanding — I loved your comment about breaking through the surface. Excellent description of understanding!

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